Weight, body fluid bioimpedance values and other physiological parameters have been used in the past to attempt to identify and track heart failure status in a patient. Such measures are often confounded or disguised by changing fat and fluid content, both of which can vary significantly in one patient and across a sampling of patient data. Measurements are often only made during periods of hospitalization or physiological instability, which may render such measurements unreliable. For example, weight measurements may be unreliable due to a high fluid content in a patient or elevated interstitial fat content and adipose tissues levels. Such factors affect a patient's normal baseline measurements, the tracking of heart failure status and the quantification of the difference of a specific patient's fluid levels as compared to a normal patient data or similarly conditioned patient data set.
If monitoring a patient's physiological conditions outside of a hospital setting, the devices utilized are often painful or uncomfortable for a patient to use and take measurements with. Such intrusive devices and methods may lead to poor patient compliance. It is often difficult or not practical for a doctor to monitor a patient's health status or heart failure status remotely or to have access to long term measurements of a number of physiological parameters. Additionally, temporal measurements monitored within a patient may be susceptible to chronically changing proportions of fat and fluid that may mask the underlying deterioration in patient health status.